DS Automobiles No 8 - long-term review

As we speak, the DS no.8 is currently having a service. Schedule clashes and timings meant it’s popped off fairly late, but nothing an EV can’t handle. So we’ll run through what’s actually been done next time. In the meantime, I’ve managed to get a DS No.4 E-Tense to sample more of the DS Automobiles range. So that’s the electric version of the EMPII platform and a posh(er) analogue of the EV Peugeot 308 and Vauxhall Astra.

The No.4 weighs in from £36,995 (for the Pallas trim), and features 213bhp, 0-62mph in 7.7 and a possible 279 miles of WLTP range from a 58kWh battery. I’ve been getting 250 in warm weather - so pretty good. Front-wheel drive only, all the DS styling. So you get the big front fangs for lights, neat detail and handsomely anonymous lines. It’s actually pretty good, but while the interior quality is solid, it’s a little let down by the screen and functionality, which feels like ennobled base kit.

And the suspension runs out of both travel and damping on a typical B-road, managing to feel resolved on the smooth stuff, then bouncy on the bumpy bits. It’s a bit busy, to be honest. Everything else is fine - steering, braking and re-gen, space, quality - but you’d be buying it because you liked the look, rather than any stand-out personality.

There is, however, a bigger point here. Because the No.4 puts the No.8 into a starker perspective: I think the 8 actually represents the DS brand more effectively. Yes, it’s probably not got the electronic ruthlessness of some of the competition and yes, it’s largely a dynamic galleon, but there’s something feisty and wayward about the 8 that makes it stand out.

It’s an electric car you’d buy with emotion, rather than benefit-in-kind forms. Well, also benefit-in-kind forms and salary sacrifice, but not only. But maybe I’m coming at this from a middle-aged perspective.

For someone like me, the DS brand was always about wafty, über-cool barges with more suspension and style than dynamism or speed. Back when there was still ‘Citroen’ in front of the DS part of the badge, we had the DS, the CX, the BX - and the want for a CX Safari is still strong.

But the younger generation don’t remember those cars. So the No.8 just comes across as a bit… odd. It’s not an SUV, but it’s taller than a saloon. It’s got a creative and fun interior, but while it looks and feels good, various electronic foibles wrestle the ‘premium’ from the experience. It’s capacious enough, fast enough, has enough range, does all the right things… but then you look at the competition and wonder whether you’d actually be brave enough if you had the money.

A quick scan and you can get a Polestar Long Range Dual motor in Prime trim for £68k - while the Etoile we have here with options is £69,190. For base price, the dual motor No.8 is £63,290, equating to a Long Range Dual Motor P4 at roughly £65,750. Something like a Kia EV6 GT with 580+bhp is currently under 60, and there are other options in the EV space these days.

The Polestar is almost the complete opposite of the DS, so which would you choose, if it were your money?